Tuesday, July 31, 2007

A Faux Family

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For some reason, the title of today's blog makes me think of a Dorothy Parker toast, offering "Champagne for my real friends, and real pain for my sham friends."

Robb and I moved out to the West Coast about five years ago, and we don't have any family out here at all. But, somehow, we have been able to build our own little family. I think in an itinerant world, people are obliged to invent their own families. We stitch together a family from our friends, and -- strangely and wonderfully -- we create family out of people we primarily know online.

Last week, I had the opportunity to finally meet (in person!) many wonderful members of the decorative painting community, who were in town for a national painting conference. By the end of the week, the "faux finishers" had dubbed themselves a "faux family." As part of the festivities of this week, I hosted part of a studio tour, and Robb and I were adopted into the faux family fold.

Our faux families have a very real heart. Two days after we announced that we were raising money for the Bay Area Outreach Recreation Program, we are three-quarters of the way to our fundraising goal. Robb and I are blown away.

Frankly, we weren't sure if we could raise even a couple of hundred dollars for this event. Neither of us are very good at asking people for things, and we had no idea how this might work out. We are stunned and humbled by everyone's generosity.

Thank you!

Faux is a French work used to describe something made to resemble something else. The original French word means false, fake, imitation or artificial

In wallcovering, it usually applies to designs that imitate actual textures such as marble and wood.